BUSH SHOWS LEADERSHIP IN OPPOSING CLONING

President George W. Bush’s opposition to human cloning experiments was supported today by Catholic League president William Donohue:

“President Bush’s opposition to human cloning experiments is supported by 80 percent of Americans, cutting across all gender, class, racial and religious lines. Those who strongly support cloning come from those quarters in the scientific community whose interest in this subject is essentially parochial. Furthermore, it does not persuade to say that 40 Nobel Prize winners support cloning: previous recipients of this award have also supported infanticide.

“It is a criminal offense in every European country to engage in reproductive human cloning. One nation, England, allows therapeutic cloning. But even this form of cloning is wrong: it entails the creation and then the destruction of human embryos. Any research that intentionally kills innocent human beings is immoral.

“There are many innocuous ways in which scientific research can move forward conquering sickness and disease. Cloning is not one of them. Indeed, the idea of stockpiling cloned human embryos is not only repugnant, it opens the door to full-scale reproductive cloning. It is disingenuous not to concede this point.

“President Bush showed leadership in his opposition to future stem cell research. He is doing so again in his opposition to human cloning experimentation. It is about time everyone acknowledged that the dehumanization of human sexuality is neither healthy nor ethical. That is why the Catholic League strongly supports President Bush in this decision.”